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Southern Strategy 2.0

The Republican Party is up to their same old tricks of sending out hate mail to attack anyone who supports civil rights for LGBT Americans. Whether or not people support Tom Umberg for Supervisor, this hateful piece of mail once again tries to strike fear in the hearts and minds of Republican voters that the gay hoards are scaling the walls of Orange County to destroy the institution of marriage. Never mind the fact that the state Supreme Court has already ruled that county governments have no authority on this issue and only the legislature or the people can change the definition of marriage in California.

Someone snorted the other day when I mentioned “Moral Courage” and Tom Umberg in the same sentence. When I made my statement I was thinking of Tom’s vote on AB849. Tom knew that there would be bigoted attacks if he took the position he did but he had the moral conviction and courage to stand for what was right over what was politically expedient and safe.

I’m not surprised, but very disappointed, that the Republican Party chose to resort to a strategy first introduced in the south in 1968.Ã‚Â But then again, what should I expect from the party whose home town hero was the author of, and first to implement, that strategy, Richard Nixon.

For the record, here is what Tom Umberg said on the floor of the Assembly regarding his vote on AB849.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“This is one of those times when history looks up on us to see where we are. Ten years from now very few of us will recall even those who we served with. Ten years from now even fewer of us will recall the bills that were voted upon. But ten years from now there are a hand full of issues that history will record where we stood. And this is one of those issues.

The constituency IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m concerned about is a very small one, thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s the constituency of my three children, should they decide to look back on my record and look back and reflect on where I was when I could have made a difference. Where I stood when I could make a difference. If I stood with those who sought to take a leadership roll in terms of tolerance, equity, and fairness. And IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll be proud to say I did.Ã¢â‚¬Â

Please call the Republican Party of Orange County at 714-453-0900 and express your displeasure at this distasteful display of bigotry and hate.

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6 comments for “Southern Strategy 2.0”

Oh, please! Why must the GOP always resort to such fear mongering and thinly veiled bigotry? I guess they didn’t learn from last year, when all their “boogey men (and women)” failed them in numerous close races throughout the country! They tried to scare people with Nancy Pelosi…
And scare people with John Kerry…
And scare people with liberal bloggers…
And scare people with gay people…
And scare people with immigrants…
And scare people with Muslim people…
And scare people with black people…

AND IT ALL FAILED!!!

But I guess the GOPers never learn from their mistakes, and simply drop the bigotry…

I just checked the mail and saw this piece of mail. It’s a pretty sad attempt to rally the homophobic voters against Umberg.

I really think that the Homophobic Paul Revere (“The gays are coming! The gays are coming!”) campaign tactic is so worn out. We all have homosexuals in our families, at our jobs, in our churches.

Does this tactic work?

Publius

January 18, 2007 at 2:34 pm

Well, Umberg and Urch were well aware when AB 849 came up that a YES vote would be used against them in a future campaign. This was cited as one of the reasons Tom didn’t vote for it under it’s previous incarnation (as AB 19).
As for the effectiveness of this specific mailer – I’d say it’s pretty minimal. For these reasons:
It fails to push many undecided voters against Umberg or pull them to any of the other candidates. This was a very high profile vote. I’d guess that most high propensity voters were aware that Umberg voted for this before they got the mailer.
I don’t think it motivates many high propensity Republicans who wouldn’t otherwise turnout to cast a ballot in this election.
The universe it went to was not likely to support Tom anyway, so it’s pretty much a wash. I think the other hit – on honesty, with multiple quotes was much more effective.
If Mike got this piece of mail, their targetting must be REALLY AWFUL! 😉

For the record, I am not a Mark Rosen supporter. That’s that Lawson character.
I believe we should hold our Democratic candidates to the same standards to which we hold others. Honesty is an important quality to me. In the scenario with “Candidate A” whose votes and policies I agree with 95% of the time, but who has a record of dishonesty by misleading me and his consituents and “Candidate B” who I agree with only 80% of the time but has always been honest, I’ll go with “B”
If principles like integrity and honesty are lower on your checklist, that’s fine with me. But please don’t tell me I should turn a blind eye for the sake of party loyalty or unity. That’s what Republicans have done. And we complain about it. So why start behaving like them?

Carl Weibel

January 18, 2007 at 11:16 pm

This kind of garbage will make Tom Umberg’s victory even sweeter! I have been walking precincts for Tom and I plan on hitting the phones tomorrow night. Keeping the Supervisor seat Blue was motivation enough, but the Republicans’ usage of hatred and bigotry as political tools gives this election a whole new importance as far as I’m concerned. A victory for Tom Umberg will be a defeat for the religious right, and the religious right needs to be defeated as often as possible!